


A New Age of Piracy

by FictionWriterD



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:33:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22452718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FictionWriterD/pseuds/FictionWriterD
Summary: A new golden age of piracy has begun in the new war, but this one isn't just confined to the water but to the air as well...





	A New Age of Piracy

1730s  
The Golden Age of Piracy comes to an end in the Caribbean.

1867  
An American engineer named Archibald Jenkins invents a more powerful steam engine that could power a heavier ship, and even make it float in the air for a few seconds. 

1869  
The engine started by Jenkins is enhanced to the point where a water vessel could be raised out of the sea and actually fly. That same year, Jenkins' countless schematics of various advanced gadgets are stolen by unknown parties and he is assassinated.

1870 - 1899  
In the years following his demise Jenkins' legacy lives on in the most powerful nations in the world: the British Empire, the American Empire, the French Republic, and the Kingdom of Spain. Their navies are no longer confined to the water and are able to fly. 

1900   
The Four Powers War begins, and engulfs the Caribbean. The Air Corps of the British Empire battles the French Republic on the islands while America and Spain fight in both the Far East and in the Caribbean. 

1901  
Technology has been advanced to a point where steam is the most sought after commodity in the world, and thus becomes available not only to the military but to the civilians as well. In large part due to the out of control nature of the war, a large number of rogue vessels of both air and sea attack merchant vessels as well as the navies of the warring nations and hoard the loot they carry. The Second Golden Age of Piracy has begun...

The island of St. Archer, an American owned island in the Caribbean occupied by the British.

The HMS Enterprise was a stalwart vessel, heavily armored and armed with thirty high powered cannons as well as two hundred men, and the shadow it left in its approach made its size immensely impressive to those who saw it. Emblazoned with the Union Jack of the British Navy the ship came to a stop in the air a few miles from the port town of Christina. 

The ship hovered hundreds of meters above the water, held up by a large balloon holding the main body and the propellers stopped spinning. Two men stood on the deck next to the helm. One was young, early thirties, and seemed to be unusually uptight as he paced back and forth behind the helmsman. He was Captain Edward Ketchum. He was agitated and beside himself with irritation. It was because the humidity of the region was not to his liking, the sweat kept forming on his brow and would not stop no matter how much he dabbed his skin with a handkerchief. "I hate this place...we should just leave it to the Americans." His words were full of venom, not an ounce of care was behind them.   
The man beside him was the Quartermaster named Reginald Walters, an older man with years of experience in the British Ocean Navy. Though his hair was grey and his skin wrinkled Reginald was still not used to being in an Air Vessel. He had been appointed the Quartermaster of the Enterprise to help lend the young Captain some help. "I would nothing but agree sir, yet I must say this island alone is a good enough base for our forces to attack whenever possible."

Too bad whatever advice the older man gave him it more often than not fell on deaf ears. "That is a concern for a level much higher than I, Quartermaster. I'm more interested in finding battle. From there a promotion much surely come at a much better pace than if I were to not see combat."

Then the old man said something that got the young hungry man's attention. "Then you will most likely find it here sir, for pirates have been known to hunt in the Caribbean."

"Pirates? Don't make me laugh." The Captain scoffed and he had good reason. Pirates were feared, yes, but from what he had been told they had few water bearing vessels and no airborne vessels to speak of. Thus, unlike their activities of nearly three centuries before, there was absolutely no reason to fear them. For pirates to take on a ship as heavily armored as the Enterprise would be a suicidal undertaking. 

"I think we should make port in Archer. Let's be off." Edward's mind had changed the subject and now he wanted to get out of the humidity before it drove him crazy.  
Not knowing how else to handle his Captain Reginald told the helmsman to turn towards the town and its large port.

Just then he heard the distinct booming of cannons off to the port side far of the ship. Large black powered shells struck the reinforced steel of the Enterprise. The first volley struck the ship's hull, a few actually putting sizable dents in it and even made the ship shake from the impact.

Captain Ketchum nearly lost his footing, was beside himself yet again, "What the bloody hell was that?"

The quartermaster shouted, "Cannons, sir! From the port side!"

The helmsman was cowering on the deck, "Captain! What do we do!?"

For all the brash and arrogance that the young captain had shown in his rise to his rank, now he began to show something akin to the opposite of courageous. He was panicking, unable to make decisions.

Nor did he have time to make them as from the port side of the Enterprise rose a much smaller vessel, an Air Vessel similar to the size of a marauder vessel that could carry one hundred people and have as many as twenty guns. Such a ship the Enterprise could easily knock out of the sky with a single volley, but the quickness of its attack had sent the crew into a panicked state and was unable to counter.

On the deck of the smaller ship the Quartermaster could see men armed with long ranged rifles and cannons aimed directly at the Enterprise's bridge. However, amid the drab brown and grey clothes that the majority of the crew wore he saw a man walking around in a bright blue captain's overcoat with silver shoulder armor and his sandy brown hair was in a small tail tied in back. He was armed with a large cutlass in his right hand and he stood on the railing of his ship. Such a stunt was either courageous or stupid, if not reckless. One false step and he would fall to certain death in the water hundreds of meters below.

In his left hand, the man held a speaker phone. With obvious arrogance held with the fact that he had a large warship at his mercy he spoke: "Greetings, gentlemen! Care to make a wager with a pirate?"

Edwards was still on the deck, much to the disappointment of his men.


End file.
